In Hiding
by athenethegoddess
Summary: Assassins are after Faith, so Angel sends her and Xander into hiding, as siblings.
1. Chapter 1

Title: In Hiding

Author: Athenethegoddess

Fandom: BTVS/ATS

Rating: Rated "T"

Archive: WWOMB: Um, well, obviously, and my livejournal,

Warnings: WARNING! I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANGEL BEFORE! Just thought I'd let ya know..

Pairings: It'll be obvious.

Summary: Assassins are after Faith, so she and Xander go into hiding.

Disclaimer: Not mine, no money, um...anything else?

"You want me to do _WHAT?_" Faith shrieked.

"Calm down, Faith. It's only for a few months. I mean, they'll stop sending assassins after you when the time limit ends. If you're not dead by then, then they can't according to their laws, try to kill you anymore." Angel explained.

"You want me to do WHAT?" Faith shrieked. Again.

"Go. To. High. School. In San Diego. That's out of their territory, they'll have to ask the locals if they can pass into their territory. That usually takes months, and lots of bribery. So, you'll be safe. Er. Safer." He tried to reason with her.

"But still! High school. Again. You're sending me into Hell, Angel."

He shook his head. "Come on, Faith. It can't be that bad. Remember? I _was_ in Hell. High school probably has nothing on it."

Faith glared at him. "How would you know, you've never been there! They didn't even _have_ High School when you were my age!"

He sighed. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

Xander snickered from the corner. "Says the man, excuse me, vampire who volunteered to go shopping with Buffy. What did you say, oh, yeah, right, "How bad could it be?" How'd _that_ turn out, do you remember?"

Angel winced. "It wasn't that bad... Ok, I'm lying. That was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. But, surely, High school can't be as bad as that, right?"

"Don't bet on it, Deadboy, and don't call me Shirley." Xander muttered.

"Ok. Now that we've got that all out of our systems, I'll arrange to have everything set up."

Angel headed for the door. As he walked out, he tossed back over his shoulder, "Oh, by the way, Xander. You're going with her." And Angel, 1/4 of the Scourge of Europe, ran.

"WHAT! GET BACK HERE YOU... WHY I OUGHTA!"

Over Xander's scream of outrage, you could hear Faith laughing.

"Come on, Xander. How bad _could_ it be? I mean, really? It can't be worse than Sunnydale High School. Besides, Cordy won't be there. We'll get you some new threads, have Willow cast a glamour over you, and you'll be my brother. You'll be, not the coolest guy in school, but I'll guarantee that you won't be the biggest looser, either."

"Why cast a glamour over me? You're the one who they're trying to kill." He demand.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I don't think your going to be able to explain away the pirate look."

"Oh." He looked sheepish for a moment, then nodded. "Pirate look. Right. Glamour it is then."

"Great. Looks like we're going back to High School, then. The one place we never wanted to go, hunh?"

"You got that right. Sis." He smirked.

Faith laughed. "Guess that's going to take some getting used to. Right. So, we need new names. How about... George." Faith considered him for a moment. "You don't look like a George. Or Tom, Dick, or Harry. There goes all the "good" names... Lets see. James, Bob, Cliff, Edward, Eddie, Ed... Want me to keep going?" she asked.

"No. Let's go with Cliff. As long as it's not short for Clifford. I'm not a damned red dog."

They both laughed.

"Ok. Your turn. What's Faith's new name going to bed. Christina? Cassandra? Lucy? Lacy? Miranda? Melissa? Susan? No, you're certainly not a Susan type of person. Any of those sound good?"

She shook her head. "Naw. How about...if you make fun of this, I'll kick your ass all the way from here to San Diego and back. How about Missy? Missy Pantone. I heard that name in a movie once."

Xander bravely hid his initial laugh, and then thought about it for a minute. "That's not a bad name. It certainly doesn't match your present name and personality type. It might be a good cover. No one that knows you would think to look for someone named Missy."

Faith was kind of surprised that he agreed with her, and that he hadn't made fun of her, despite the threat.

"Yeah? That's kind of what I was thinkin'. So. Missy and Cliff Pantone. Yeah?"

Xander smiled. "Yeah."


	2. Chapter 2

Finally, a week later, everything was set up. Angel had created a school record for both of them. They weren't straight 'A' students,

but they weren't failures either. Xander and Faith both re-created themselves into new people. With some intense training from both Oz and Spike, Xander developed an appreciation for good rock music, mostly from the late 70's and the early 80's. Oz also taught Xander enough of the guitar to be able to fake it until he knew more. Spike and Faith both helped him to develop a better wardrobe. With a little help from Oz. And Angel's credit card.

Faith didn't really change all that much. She focused on mellowing out, and trying to get a reign on her temper. And she shoved her violent personality deep into her sub-conscience. That would only come out at night, when she was alone, or with Xander, and when she was killing something. She took up kick-boxing, and found that she liked it. It was a good vent for her anger.

Finally, when everyone felt that they were ready, they moved Faith and Xander to San Diego. They move mostly at night. When Angel had first come up with this idea, he'd sent Cordy to San Diego with his platinum credit card, and told her to find a house suitable for the two of them, and to decorate it. He hoped she hadn't totally killed his bank account. But if she had, he had a few more in hiding that he wasn't going to tell her about. So, they had a house, it was mostly furnished, the only thing left was to move in. Which they did, one night after the sun had gone down. Spike and Angel carried in the last of the boxes, and deposited them in the correct rooms. Everyone met back in the kitchen.

"Well. You know the number if you need anything. Spike is going to stay in town, if you need help quickly. Here are your cell phones. I'm speed dial 1, he's speed dial 2. Check in every few days, just to make sure. If we need any help, we'll call. You each have a car in the garage. Here are the keys to them, and the house keys. The story is that your parents live here, but are rarely here, because they work in L.A. Every thing's paid for. Anything else you need, here are your "parents" credit cards. Try not to max them out, please. Any papers you might need for school are in this envelope. If anything's not in order, have the school call Wesley. He can talk enough like a lawyer to fool any school official." He handed them the keys, credit cards, and the envelope. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you to behave, because if I do, then you won't. So, just try not to get killed, and don't kill anyone else. Just...stay low for a while, alright?"

Faith and Xander smirked at him. "We'll try."

Angel rolled his eyes. "That's the best I can hope for, I guess. See you guys in a few weeks." He waved and walked out the door.

Spike smirked at them, and left. "Call me, Slayer, if you wanna kill something. And there's something else for you in the garage. See ya, whelp."

When everyone was gone, they stood in the kitchen, just looking around.

"Guess we should get things put away. I'm not cooking tonight, and I'm sure you aren't either. Chinese alright?"

Faith nodded. "Get some extra almond chicken. I'm going to run to the store, get some soda. And chips. Let's go see what Angel bough us to drive."

They walked out to the garage. There were three, not two, vehicles parked in the garage. One was a new blue beatle, one was a new black Jeep 4x4, and one was a new black Harley.

"Oh, wow. I think I'm in love." Xander was staring at the black Jeep 4x4. Beside him, Faith was staring at the new Harley.

"I know I'm in love. How did he know...? Spike. I'll bet he told Angel what to buy. I don't care what happens, I'm keeping it." she ran her hands over the chrome, and the black metal. Ever available part of the bike had blue flames painted on it. Under the flames, if you looked closely enough was 'Faith' written in ghost flames. It was beautiful.

"Definitely keeping this," she whispered.

Xander was watching her over the hood of his Jeep. He made a mental note to thank both of the vampires for this.

"Here. I know you really want to ride that thing, but you can't make a grocery run on a Harley. Take the Jeep. Get a couple cases of Pepsi, whatever you want. Chips, bread, milk and some cereal. Have fun, you can ride it all day tomorrow." He tossed the keys to the jeep to her.

She caught them, and smiled at him.

"Yes, Dad."

He laughed. "I'm gonna go order diner. Here's a credit card for you, and here's one for me. Guess we're going to have to get some cash sometime soon. Betcha the delivery guy's not gonna take a credit card. Good thing I've got some money on me. Go, shoo. Get food."

He walked back into the house, and dug out a phone book. Finding a nearby Chinese place that delivered, he placed an order, and hung up.

The jeep had pulled out several minuets before. He went to his room, and started to set it up the way he wanted. The only places that weren't completely put together, courtesy of Cordy, was the kitchen, the bathrooms, and the bedrooms.

He was done with his room, and had started on the kitchen when he heard two cars pull into the driveway, one right after the other. The front door opened, and Faith walked in, the delivery guy following.

"Here's the soda, and here's the food. Good timing, hunh."

"Yup. Don't be surprised if you get a lot of deliveries here, buddy. We don't cook much in this house."

The guy laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. Here's your change, have a good night."

"The rest of the stuff's in the jeep still. Go get it, little Brother." She laughed at the look on his face at being called "little Brother."

"Slave driver. Geez, I've been related to her for only one day, and she's already gotten the bossing around down pat."

He walked into the garage, and got the rest of the food out of the back of the jeep. He closed the garage door on the way into the house. He also beeped the Jeep so that the alarm was on. Going to be careful with that one. It was the first new car he'd ever had. Everything else had been 'new' to him, but not "new."

They ate dinner, finished putting away the kitchen, and while Faith was putting her room together, he set up the laptop in his room, and the wireless hub so that the whole house had internet. When she was done, he set up Faith's laptop as well.

They both went into the living room to see what kind of entertainment system Cordy had bought for them. It was a good one, all Sony. And she'd bought a large selection of DVD's too. They picked one that neither of them had seen, and sat down to relax with some mindless entertainment. They decided that they'd start patrolling the next night. Since it was Sunday, the both went to bed after the movie. Neither fell asleep too quickly, both were too busy thinking about how the next day would go. Tomorrow, they started High school. _Again_. How ironic.


	3. Chapter 3

The alarm clock went off at 5:58 am. Xander slapped at it, turning it off. He groaned. One thing that he definitely hadn't missed about  
school. Getting up early. He rolled out of bed, and shuffled into the bathroom. He stripped, and turned the water on. While it was still  
cold, he stepped into the spray. While not fun, it was an effective way of waking up. Something that he remembered from his earlier high  
school days.

Quickly changing it to warmer water, he washed and rinsed. Drying off, he grabbed the robe he'd hung on the door knob. He peeked into Faith's room on the way back, and saw that she was up.

At least I won't have to wake her up, and get my ass kicked into a wall for it.

He got dressed, and walked downstairs. Faith was sitting at the dining table, staring into her cereal.

"Hey. You awake?" he asked.

"Not really. We forgot to get coffee. How did we forget to get coffee?" she moaned.

"Stop on the way, and get a mocha or something on the way to school. You going to ride the Harley, or do you want to ride with me?" he

asked, as he poured his own bowl of cereal.

She brightened. "I'll ride the Harley. Hmm. Think leather pants on the first day of school is too much?"

"Yeah, save those for the third or fourth. You don't want to scare everyone away immediately." he teased.

"Fine, but I'm still wearing my leather jacket."

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't. Well. You're not supposed to be you, you're supposed to be Missy. But I'm sure that's something that  
Missy'd do too." He grinned.

"You bet your ass she would." She grinned, and dumped the rest of her cereal down the drain. "I'm gonna go take a shower. You taking off?"

"Yup. Gonna go be a good student, and get my schedule, and all the paperwork done. Want me to do your's too, and pick up your schedule?"

"That'd be cool. I'll call you when I get there, and you can give everything to me, ok?"

"Sounds good. See ya then. Don't be late!" he yelled after her. She waved backwards.

Xander finished his cereal, grabbed two sodas and stuck them in his bag along with his spiral notebooks, and pens. He grabbed his CD  
player, and a book of CD's.

Before he left the house, he muttered the incantation that Willow'd taught him. It would last for 24 hours, and had to be renewed each  
day. But it covered him completely. No one would know that he only had one eye.

He unlocked the Jeep, and flipped through his CD's until he found the Nirvana one that he'd bought recently. Slipping it into the cd player,  
he turned the Jeep on. He listened to the engin for a minute, relishing the purr of a new vehicle. He hit the button for the garage door, and pulled out. He hit the button once he was safely outside.

He followed the directions mapped out for him by Willow, and found the school without any problems. He found a parking space, not too far out, but not too close either.

He walked into the school, and found the principal's office, filled out the forms, got both of their schedules, and went in search of his  
locker. He made sure the combo worked, and then closed it, leaving it empty. He glanced at his watch. 7:20 am. School started at 8:00. She had 40 minutes to get here. He figured she'd get here by 7:45. He headed back out to his Jeep, and sat on the hood, waiting.  
Twenty minutes rolled by, and he people watched to keep himself entertained.

He got a few curious looks, but no one approached.

At 7:42 he heard the roar of the Harley. He grinned. She was early. As she turned the corner, she saw him sitting on his Jeep. He'd  
obviously parked so that she'd be able to see him when she drove by. She whipped into the empty parking space next to him. She set the  
kickstand, and turned off the engin. She pulled off her helmet, and shook out her hair. Noticing that she'd drawn a crowd when she pulled  
in, she glared at them.

"If anyone touches this, they'll get their ass kicked so hard they'll never see sunlight again."

Xander laughed. "She's serious, and I'd let everyone know." She swung off the Harley, and took the helmet. He tossed it in the backseat of  
the Jeep, and beeped the alarm.

"Here. Your schedule, and all of the other paperwork. Locker, combo. Use it if you want to, you have a spare key to my Jeep if you need to put stuff in there. Call me if you leave before I do, same goes for me. We've got one class together, right after lunch. Don't start any fights, don't get in trouble."

She laughed. "Yes, Angel."

He smacked her on the arm. "I'm not Deadboy. I've got a sense of humor. See ya in class."

He grabbed his backpack and his cd player, and walked towards the school. "Hey, Cliff." He turned around. "This might help. You forgot  
it at home." She tossed him his cell phone.

"Right. Thanks." he clipped it onto his pocket. And stuck his headphones on, but didn't turn on the cd player. He didn't want anyone sneaking up on him. He'd learned that in Sunnyhell. You don't ever let any of your senses get out of focus. Until he knew the area, and knew some of the people other than Faith..er..Missy, he wasn't going to trust any of them.

* * *

"Everyone, we have a new student. Transferring from Mission Hills High School, in Los Angeles. Cliff "Pant One?" the teacher butchered his new last name, causing him to wince. 

"Pantone. Thanks." he found a seat next to a pretty blonde. One of the jocks on his left decided to be a wiseass.

"coughLosercough."

He shook his head. They were so juvenile. He hoped that he'd never been like that, but he was sure that he probably had been. Only, _his_  
smart ass remarks were usually aimed at Angel.

"coughLosercough"

Xander rolled his eyes, and turned towards the losers. "Wait, wait, wait, was that the uh, was that the "loser sneeze" I just heard right there? Guys, come on, I mean, what is that from, like the 1900's? Nobody does that anymore. I don't think anyone does. When I lived in Kentucky– Did they still do the loser sneeze in Kentucky? No. They had uh, guns and homemade bombs. What about L.A.? There was a lot of attitude in L.A. but no loser sneeze. I'm pretty sure the loser sneeze is officially dead. Sorry."

Xander heard the girl on the other side chuckle quietly at his remarks, but the two idiots didn't get the message.

"coughLosercough." the first idiot repeated.

"Nice." was his friend's brilliant remark.

The cute blond sitting next to him leaned over and said, "I don't think they got the memo about the loser sneeze."

"Uh, no, apparently not. Cliff." He stuck out his hand, and she took it.

"Torrance."

He lifted the cover of the book she was studying. "Advanced Chem.Yikes."

She nodded. "Um, 'fraid so. You intimidated?"

"Y-yeah, a little." Xander nodded. He thought of Willow, and her interests. _Not._

"Really?" She brightened, smiling cheerfully.

Xander smirked. "No. Not really."

She pointed at his t-shirt. "So, is that your band or something?"

"The Clash? No, uh – it's a British punk band circa 1977 to 1983-ish.Original lineup, anyway."

_Thank you, Spike._

"How vintage."

The bell rang.

"Um, so I'll see you around then?" he said, as he stood up. They both picked up their books.

"Looks like it."


	4. Chapter 4

Faith went to her first four classes, then her and Xander grabbed lunch at a nearby fast food joint. They both went to 5th period  
together, then parted ways for their next class. During 6th period, she heard that one of the cheerleaders had broken her leg, and that they were trying to find a replacement for her.

Faith thought, fleetingly, that she'd always wanted to be a cheerleader, but shoved it to the back of her mind.

So, when 4:00 rolled around, she vaguely wondered what she was doing in the gym at the tryouts.

One of the girls at the table leaned over to the other, and in a snobbish voice said, "Excuse me. Where'd you park your Harley? Get real."

Faith, with her Slayer hearing, clearly heard it, and mentally grinned. _Next to Xander's Jeep._

"Tattoos' are strictly verboten. Sorry." The girl smirked.

Faith flipped her off, then licked her middle finger, and ran it down the drawing on her arm.

"I got bored during fourth period."

"You need to fill one of these out."

"Did it." She held up the filled out form. Faith walked over to the table and handed it to one of the girls.

"Missy, is it? Ok, before we start, I'm afraid we're gonna need to make sure you can do a standing back tuck. Standard procedure. You  
understand."

"Standing back handspring back tuck okay?" Faith asked. She took her keys, and wallet out of her back pocket. She had always loved doing this sort of stuff, gymnastic stuff. It was challenging, and yet so easy, because of the Slayer thing.

A standing back handspring was easy, and to just add a back tuck was simple.

"Where's this girl from, Romania?" one girl muttered to her neighbor.

"Can she yell?" another one asked.

"Well try an oldie. _Awesome, oh wow! Like totally freak me out! I mean, right on! The Toro's sure are number one._"

"I transferred from Los Angeles, you school has no gymnastics team, this is a last resort. Ok, so I've never cheered before. So what. How  
about something that actually requires neurons?" Several of the cheerleaders looked pissed. Especially the two on the right.

"Do it." the Asian one said.

"Front handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, full twisting lay out." the blonde smirked, sure that Faith could never do that.

Once again, challenging, but not difficult. When she finished the challenge, she smiled, before turning a blank face to the cheerleaders.

"Missy is bank." The blond in the middle seemed impressed.

"Uh, bankrupt. We've already so decided on Jamie."

"Courtney, this is not a democracy, it's a "cheerocracy." I'm sorry, but I'm overruling you."

"You are being a "cheertator," Torrance, and a pain in my ass. We already voted. Besides, Missy looks like an uber dyke."

You'd think after all the rejection in her life, Faith would be used to it. But it still hurt. She grabbed her keys and wallet, and walked  
out of the gym. She wasn't really sure why the comment had made her so mad, it was nothing compared to what Cordy could come up with.

She got on her Harley, and tore out of the parking lot, tires squealing.

She was surprised, later, to find Torrance on her doorstep. She was even more surprised when Xander took her side. So, when she agreed to be on the squad, she was well past surprised, and into shocked.

* * *

They started patrolling that night. They didn't find much other than a few vampires. They were easy to take care of, and they got in early  
enough to get a good nights rest. 

They both got up the next morning, and had breakfast together again.

Faith decided to take the Bug to school today, since she had 'practice' after school today. She threw a bag with work out clothes in it into the back seat. She grabbed her license, and some money from the stash in her underwear drawer, and shoved them into her pocket.

After school, she went to practice, and sat and watched so she could learn the new cheer that they were learning. When she realized that it  
was stolen, she was disgusted.

I can't believe that they'd steal something so stupid as a cheer. How hard can it be to come up with one? Now, if it was a spell or a ritual, I could understand stealing it. But a cheer?

She walked out, and wasn't surprised when Torrance followed her out. She was amused when the little cheerleader offered to kick her ass for her, though.

"Would you just get in?"

They stopped briefly, for something to eat, then headed for LA. Faith knew she was taking a big risk here, entering the Los Angelus area.  
That was the territory of the guys who were trying to kill her, after all. But Torrance had to see this.

One of the potentials that was activated when Buffy pulled her little stunt was a cheerleader at an inner-city high school. The Compten  
Clovers, or some shit like that. The girl, who's name Faith couldn't remember, had drug Faith to some of the football games, and made her  
watch the cheerleading. She had to admit it, they were good.

They showed up when the basketball game was about halfway over. As the music started, Torrance started to look ill. The cheerleaders inside already knew the cheer, when Torrance's girls were just learning it.

So, it wasn't originally theirs. It was the Clover's. They watched for a few minutes, then went outside.

"You really didn't know, did you?" Faith asked.

"No." she answered, hugging herself.

"You ok?" Faith asked, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"I guess."

Faith opened her mouth to say something else, and noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. She swung around just as the captain of the squad yelled "Hey!"

Faith noticed the girl who was a slayer. They nodded minutely at each other. The other girl, Trisha, Faith remembered now, widened her eyes to show she was surprised to see her. Faith made a hand gesture to tell her that it wasn't slayer related. She blinked twice to say she  
understood. Buffy and Faith, with help from Willow, and strangely, Xander, had developed a series of signs and then taught them all to the slayers that they trained.

"Did you enjoy the show?" the captain demanded.

"Yes, were the ethnic festivities to your liking today?" another one spat out.

"You guys are really awesome."

"Really? Ready to share some of those trophies?"

When the smallest of the three cheerleaders that followed them out said, "Can we just beat these Buffys down? So I can go home? I'm on  
curfew, girl." Faith almost burst out laughing. Apparently Buffy'sname had become an adjective.

"There's no need for that."

"She's right. See, then we'd be doing them a favor. Then they could feel good about sending Raggedy Ann here to jack us for our cheers."

"Raggedy Ann?" Torrance asked, confused, but sick to her stomach with a guess.

"Ugly redhead with a video camera permanently attached to her hand. Y'all been coming up here for years, trying to steal our routines."

"And we just love seeing them on ESPN."

"What are you guys talking about?" Torrance asked.

" ' Brr it's cold in here, there must be some Toros in the atmosphere'? I know you don't think some white girl made that shit up."

Torrance tried to say something, but the other captain interrupted her. "Our free cheer service is over as of this moment."

"Over!" another one said.

"Finito!" said the third.

"Every time we get some, here y'all come, tryin to steal it, puttin' blond hair on it and callin it something different. We've had the best squad around for years, but nobody's been able to see what we can do. Oh, but you better believe all that's going to change this year. I'm captain, and I guarantee you we'll make it to Nationals. Hand over the tape you made tonight, and we'll call it even for now."

"We don't have a tape." Torrance held up empty hands.

"Really. We just came to see the show."

"What? Come on, Isis. Let me do this." the smallest one said.

"You know what? Let's go." the captain, Isis, said

"Wait a minute. So that's it? We're just gonna let them go?" she demanded.

"Yeah. Because unlike them, we have class."

"I swear, I had no idea." Torrance said.

"Well, now you do." Isis said, and turned away.

"Hmmp. You been touched by an angel, girl." the short one angrily told the two girls.

"Jenelope, let's go." Isis said. She turned and walked away. Trisha rolled her eyes at Faith, and Faith smirked back. Faith winked at the  
younger girl, and she giggled quietly. Then she turned and walked away with the rest of the cheerleaders.

Faith and Torrance got into the car, and left. A few minutes later, Faith burst out with, "We so almost got our asses kick back there! I mean, I knew I'd seen those routines before. We used to play East Compten all the time."

Faith paused, and looked at Torrance. "You really had no idea, did you?"

"Do you know what this means? My entire cheerleading career has been a lie."

"Well, look on the bright side. It's only cheerleading." Faith tried to laugh it off.

"I am only cheerleading."

They were lucky that the cheerleaders hadn't attacked them. Faith was sure that she could have handled them, but then her cover would have been blown. And then, later, when Torrance asked if she believed in curses, she almost lost it again.

_Like Angel's curse? Yep, I believe in that one. Thankfully. I haven't met Angelus, and I'm sure I don't want to, either._

But then that silly story about the spirit stick. Finally, she dropped Torrance off at her house, and then went home. They patrolled again, setting up a routine for each night. They'd come home from school, do homework, one or the other would call for takeout or delivery, or, if they wanted to, cook dinner. After dinner, if nothing else was going on, they'd watch a movie, then go patrolling.

They checked in with Angel every two days, and invited Spike to go patrolling with them most nights. Spike thought the idea of Faith as a  
cheerleader was hilarious, and he and Xander got hours of teasing her out of it. Xander promised that he'd get pictures at the first available chance. Here was his chance.

* * *

The next football game for the team was a home game, and it was the first time that Faith would be joining the squad in performing. The  
first time she tried to join in the cheering, she was so self-conscience that she was sure she looked like an idiot. When she saw Xander in the stands laughing at her, it didn't help. But she was laughing at herself too. 

_Remember, you wanted to do this, so suck it up, and try harder._

It was sad, watching the football game. The Toro's got creamed. It was like watching Faith, Buffy, and Spike take on some fledglings. Sad,just sad. Xander was glad he'd brought a book. He had fun flirting with Torrance, though. It got a bit more exciting when the other cheerleaders showed up. He was sorry to say it, but he missed the action of Sunnyhell and L.A.

Life continued. The days slowly flowed by. Nothing too exciting happened. They found a guy, through Torrance's boyfriend, who would  
teach them a new routine. The catch was that he was charging them 2,000$. So, the squad put on a car wash. Faith couldn't believe they  
roped her into helping.

Xander heard about the carwash through Faith, when she was complaining about the lameness of it all. She couldn't understand why they  
couldn't just go steal it. She was just joking. Or so he told himself. He decided that he'd have to show up, and "support" the team. Besides,  
it was a good way to see Torrance in a bikini. He'd borrowed a Spike's car, and gotten it covered in mud and grass. He wouldn't do that to his baby, but he'd do it to Spike's car, no problem. Besides, it was going to get cleaned, right?


	5. Chapter 5

Faith couldn't believe the idiot that they'd hired to 'teach' them a new routine. What a joke. And then, at Regionals, when they found out what a crock it was, she wasn't really surprised.

Surprised, maybe, at how many people the idiot had suckered in, but not surprised overall.

She'd noticed that Xander seemed to have a thing for Torrance. She hoped that he wasn't going to get his heart broken. Again. First Cordy, then Anya, even she'd taken a stab at his heart. She'd really hoped that this time he wouldn't. But she knew that Torrance already

had a boyfriend. Even though he was at collage.

So, after Regionals, she wasn't surprised when he came home sad, dejected, and rejected. The vampires that night got their asses' kicked by one pissed off teenager. Faith and Spike just stayed out of his way and watched.

"What's up with him, Slayer?" Spike asked at one point.

"Found out the girl he likes has a boyfriend already."

"Ah. Figured it was a bird that had him all pissy. Not much else gets him that pissed. Well, except for me."

Faith grinned. "You can make anyone that pissy. Even Angel."

Spike chuckled. "Especially Angel."

A week went by. Faith's days were dominated by practice. She even dreamed of cheering. She took swing classes, watched musicals, taught the squad martial arts, did interpretive dances, even took some mime classes. That one scared her a bit. Mime. A mime is a terrible thing to waste, or so she was told.

Meanwhile, Torrance broke up with her boyfriend, and tried to get Xander to talk to her. That didn't work.

One day, while she was practicing, Xander came down the stairs and started to imitate her.

"Bite me."

"Hanging out with the airheads has really sharpened your verbal skills, huh."

"Screw you."

"Said the cheerleader."

"That's right, I am a cheerleader. And you're a dumbass. Torrance likes you. Okay? She likes you."

"She has an odd way of showing it."

"Don't be stupid. She broke up with her boyfriend for you."

"Yeah."

"Look. Do us all a favor and get over yourself and tell her how you feel."

"I thought I had."

"Well try again. And let me give you a little tip from a cheerleader. Be aggressive. Be-ee aggressive."

They all flew down to Florida two days later. Faith had let Angel know that she was going to Florida, and he'd sent her a ticket. Xander wasn't sure if he was going to go to Nationals, so he didn't buy a ticket at that time.

"So, is your family coming?" Torrance probed.

"I don't know if Cliff is coming." Faith smiled. Torrance shook her head.

"I totally blew it with Cliff."

"Forget it. My brother's an idiot."

"You're his sister. You don't see him like I do." Faith chuckled, mentally. _Not anymore, I don't. _

"Yeah. And that's a good thing. Because that would be a crime."

Two days later, after the preliminaries were done and over with, they moved onto the finals. The night before, Torrance and Faith sat up on their bed and talked for a while.

"I don't know which is scarier, neurotic cheerleaders or the pressure to win. I could make a killing selling something like Diet Prozac."

"Thank god you're here this season, Missy. I couldn't have done it alone."

"Oh. Tear."

"No, I mean it!"

Faith rolled her eyes when she heard a squad outside rehearsing. At night. How stupid could you get? She walked to the window and yelled, "Shut up! You don't got it yet, you don't got it! Give it up already!"

The next day was finals. The Clovers were up first. They did their routine, and Faith had to admit that they were good. They finished, and the crowd love them. Something in the crowd caught her eye. There was Xander. And...Cordy! Buffy, Giles, Dawn, Willow, everyone! Her family did show up. Oh, god.

And they had video cameras. She'd never live this one down. Spike'd make sure of that.

Torrance was not feeling good about this. They were good. They were really good. Then Missy tapped her on the shoulder, and pointed out Cliff, and immediately she felt better. He seemed to have a bunch of other people with him. Must be friends from L.A. she guessed.

Seeing Xander seemed to be the thing that she needed. She turned to the squad and gave a pep-talk that got them roaring. They performed their routine, and it was the best that they'd ever done. Considering how bad they'd done at Regionals, Faith was surprised that they were one of the top five teams. Talk about a comeback.

She hoped that they won any place. She'd never been part of something that actually won anything. There's a first for everything, right?

"And in second place – this was a tough decision, as there were two outstanding performances this year. In second place, from San Diego, California, the Rancho Carne Toros!"

Faith was ready to be upset, if everyone else was. But she was happy that they'd made it to second place. How would everyone else feel, after not getting first place?

"Second place, hell yeah!"

Guess that answered that question.

"Look. My very own Spirit Stick. So, you think the curse is broken?"

"I don't believe in curses anymore."

"Oh, really."

"No." Faith dangled the spirit stick from her fingertips for a few seconds before dropping it.

After a second or two, Torrance bent down and snatched it up.

"Maybe we should burn that, just in case."

"Right."

Xander appeared, and gave Faith a hug.

"Congratulations."

"Oh, thanks. Uh, you remember my friend Torrance, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"We'll talk later." Faith leaves.

"So. Second place. How's it feel?"

"Feels like first."

They smile at each other like idiots for a minute, then Torrance grabed him and kisses him.

Out in the stands, Buffy, Dawn, Giles, Cordy, Willow, Fred, and Gunn watched. And took pictures.

"Looks like Xander found himself a girlfriend. Think she's human?

That'd be a first, right? Well, except for you, Cordy, and you were

always, how do I put this, more than 'merely human.'"

"That's true. I was. Still am. And yes, I'd say that she was human. I don't think that Faith'd let her near him if she wasn't." Cordiela shrugged.

"That's true." Willow nodded.

"Besides, I don't think demons are much into cheerleading. Now, eating cheerleaders, that's another mater entirely." Everyone chuckled.

"So, do you think they're going to mind staying for a few more months?" Giles asked.

"Naw."

"Don't think so."

"Are you kidding? They'll love it. At least this way, Faith can officially get her diploma. Even if it isn't in her name. But then, she could always change her name." Buffy said.

They all looked at each other, then shook their heads.

"Naw."

Faith will always be Faith. No mater who she pretended to be.

The End


End file.
